I know this is a broad question, but my wife, young son and I are looking for suggestions to spend 3-4 months this winter. We have enjoyed all of our travels to Asia and have spent lots of time in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Singapore, etc. Given that we will be spending an extended time, I am thinking of either looking for a series of rural destinations for 3 weeks at a time, with city stops breaking them up, or stationing in Singapore or Hong Kong and then traveling from there to various locales.

One place high on our list to see is India, any thoughts on spending an extended period there?

Thanks for your help,
Ben

India in the winter weather-wise would certainly be a good choice. Virtually all of it will be dry and in good temperatures. See something like weatherbase.com for an idea of temps and rainfall for places you are considering. I believe your visa would entitle you to stay for 180 days, but check on this when applying. (Most other places which don’t require a visa for US passport holders, like Hong Kong and Thailand, will limit you to stays of 90 days unless you obtain a visa, but you can leave for a few days and come back in and your 90 days start over again.) If you can time your winter visit to include Divali, which in 2010 will be in early November, that IMO would be quite an interesting time to be there, but there are always holidays and festivals going on during the year so I am sure you would have the chance to see some of them. You might want to look at something like a serviced apartment or vrbo.com to rent something on a long-term basis rather than living out of a hotel which would not have a kitchen and has limited storage. That would of course probably limit you to cities which have these types of accommodations, as you are unlikely, IMO, to find them in rural areas (you may find time share or similar options in resort areas in Goa or parts of Kerala), but look and see what you can find. You probably also want to be near a major airport so if you want to travel to other places in Asia you won’t have to connect to a city within India to then get out of India. So Delhi or Bangalore may work well or even Hyderabad may too. Pune is a bit secondary as far as connections to other places other than by train or road, but is a pleasant place and does have serviced apartments. Personally I think Mumbai is too big and congested to be pleasant, Delhi may be so as well. (Or chose a place like Varanasi where you can fly to Bangkok which then has good service to the rest of Asia; although I think you would find housing options in Varanasi to be limited.)

I live in Hong Kong and think it would make a great base for 3-4 months. It is well served by air for travelling to other places in Asia quite easily (i.e., India). You can again choose a serviced apartment option or try vrbo.com, craigslist, home exchange websites or look in newspapers like the <i>South China Morning Post</i> for short term rentals. You could choose (and I would certainly recommend) to live on an outlying island like Lamma or in one of the beach communities in Lantau or in the lovely Sai Kung area, in any of these you could have a flat or house on or near the water at a fairly good rent (at least for Hong Kong, but even for some other places). You don’t need to be on Hong Kong Island or the tip of Kowloon as you won’t be commuting to a job. The weather in winter is fantastic, esp. if you can come from mid-October through end January. Sunny, dry and temps in the low 70s. Great for hikes, walks, boat trips, etc. You can sit on beaches although you may not want to swim. Christmas is just about the best time of year weather wise we have. Feb is traditionally not great weather, cool and damp (although this year was lovely), but Chinese New Year in 2010 will be from Feb. 14 -16, and it would be interesting to be here at that time to observe and participate in the festival and see the fireworks.

Singapore or Bangkok would work pretty well I think too, weather in Singapore in winter is rainy (esp late Dec through Feb) and Bangkok is pretty hot, but each would offer about the same advantages as Hong Kong would do. Singapore has the advantage that you can go by car, bus or train up to Malaysia and even on to Thailand if you wanted, and can get by ferry to Java to do overland trips there. Chinese New Year is also a big celebration there, and they are one of the only places that celebrates the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, generally in February, which is extremely interesting to observe IMO. (You should plan a trip to Singapore then if you aren’t staying there.) They also have more budget airline services like Air Asia. Kuala Lumpur would be another thought, their airport is the hub for Air Asia, and you could also explore mainland Malaysia by car/bus/train. KL might be an interesting place as a base, certainly very friendly people and great food, IMO not as interesting a place as Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok but not a bad base at all. You can get to the Maldives in 4 hours (can also do from Singapore), which have great weather in the winter.

You might also consider something like renting a house on Bali for 3-4 months. You may not want to leave. It’s not really that convenient for travelling to other parts of Asia, but you could travel to other parts of Indonesia for sure, and certainly 3-4 months there would be quite unforgettable. I have done it myself for 6 and wish I could do so again now!